Fracture
by Jack Cross
Summary: When Will moves in with his cousins, the Fentons, he's not quite sure what to expect from his eccentric family. What he's not expecting is the seemingly never ending stream of ghosts coming from the portal in the basement, or the new classmates that have dedicated themselves to fighting them off. To top it all off, a powerful evil is returning. Can Will prepare himself in time?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, Jack here with an experiment of sorts. I've been a fan of Danny Phantom since it first aired all those years ago, and I've always wanted to write a Danny Phantom story but have never taken the time to actually sit down and write one. So here I am, posting a test chapter if you will. If people like it or not, well, we'll go from there. **

**I do not own Danny Phantom in any way, shape or form. **

Do you like stories? Considering the fact that you're reading this, I'm going to guess that you do. Well, let me indulge you and tell you a story. I'm going to tell you the tale of how I became the ghost hunter known as The Mandalorian. Shockingly original name, I know, totally not from Star Wars at all. Thank Tucker for that. He threw out a nickname cause of the armor's look and it just stuck.

I've been called other names; the Tall Man, the Gunslinger, the Flying Devil, Whelp by Skulker once or twice. But the name Mandalorian has been the one that has been with me since the beginning, and the one that has caused the most fear. Nowadays, it rings true with other names such as Danny Phantom or the Red Huntress.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself. I suppose proper introductions are warranted at the least. My name is William Hartman, and this is my story.

It all started when I was sent to live with my Aunt Maddie's family in Amity Park. See my parents divorced when I was a kid and Dad ran off shortly there after, or was killed and hid in a well by Mom, if you believed her when she was stark raving mad and drunk at the same time. Which I didn't, cause half the town helped track him down and stuck him in a dunk tank for the tenth anniversary of the divorce.

My mom, Alicia, was wrongly profiled by the police when she was pulled over for a broken tail light. Or that's what she'll tell you, anyway, leaving out the weed they found in a cup holder, which led to the pot plants they found in the trunk, which led to them finding the pot growing in the barn, and the meth lab set up in the old chicken coop, and the moonshine still set up in the garage where the car was suppose to be.

When I asked her about it, Mom reminded me that we lived in the middle of the backwoods of Arkansas. A place which had people parachuting into it at times because the roads were so bad during the rainy season. Someone, somewhere was going to want enough drugs and alcohol to forget they lived there.

Yeah, needless to say I don't think there was a three or four letter organization that wasn't lined up to press charges of some sort against her. Being as I was sixteen at the time, I had my clothes packed up and I was sent north to the only remaining family I had left. I'd met my Aunt Maddie and her family a few times before, a long time ago. She had two children, my cousins, Jasmine and Danny. We played some as kids, but it had been so long since I had seen them that I didn't quite know what to expect.

The few letters we had gotten from Aunt Maddie over the years offered a little insight, but not much. Apparently Jasmine was an A student, top of her class, and bound for an ivy league school. Danny, on the other hand, seemed to be a C or B average student and was destined for mundaneness. The last time they had visited, I had been off on a camping trip in a neighboring town, and as such had missed the tenth divorce anniversary party they had thrown for Mom.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from my family, or the new town I was set to go to. Amity Park made my hometown look like an actual bump in the road, rather than just a small hamlet back in the woods. To say I was going to need time to adjust was an understatement. I was going from a log cabin in the backwoods to a brick two story building in a decent sized city.

While I was expecting a culture shock, I wasn't expecting my family's…antics. My first clue should have been the extra two stories added on to the building's roof that came in the form of a hodge poge of metal devices. Overall it looked like every pirate radio enthusiast and cable TV thief's dream come true, and that it violated every zoning law known to man.

I stood on the sidewalk in front of this place, looking up at it with my backpack full of clothes slung over my shoulder. If I had been a hopeful kind of guy, I would have hoped that I had the wrong address. With the giant sign hanging off the front of the building declaring it to be 'Fenton Works', I knew I had the right place.

With an uneasy sigh, I walked up the steps to the front door. Might as well rip the band aid off and get it over with. If they didn't have satellite TV with all that crap on the roof I was going to be pissed. I banged my fist on the green wooden door a few times and waited. Almost instantly the door flew open, and I found myself ensnared in a net. I barely had time to let out a yelp of surprise before I was dragged inside with the door slamming shut behind me.

"I got it, I got a ghost!" came a booming voice. I twisted myself around and peered out of the mesh around me, trying to figure out what was going on while at the same time trying to untangle my arm enough to get my pocket knife out. Standing over me was a rather large man with salt and pepper hair wearing a bright orange and black jumpsuit. He was holding a silver and green metal tube with a rope coming out of one end, which was attached to the net I was in.

"Jack, that's not a ghost. That's William," a woman wearing a blue jumpsuit said as she appeared beside him. Like mom, she had auburn hair which stopped at her shoulders. This was my Aunt Maddie. Which meant that the guy giving her a blank look was my Uncle Jack.

"My sister, Alicia's son," she elaborated. The blank look continued.

"Literally your only nephew. He's suppose to come stay with us until he graduates," she continued.

"Your sister has a son?" Aunt Maddie let out a long sign before she pulled a knife from her boot and cut me free.

"I'm sorry about that, Jack tends to get a little overzealous when trying a new invention out. How was your trip?" she asked as she helped me to my feet.

"Long. The flight out of Little Rock wasn't bad. The destination is, well, unexpected," I answered, casting a wary glance at my Uncle, who was fiddling with the tube in his hand now.

"Don't let this little accident shape your view on us. Let's get you settled in."

Turns out both Aunt Maddie and Uncle Jack are into ghost hunting, and I don't mean that crap on TV where a couple of guys spend all night in a dark building with a camera scaring each other. I'm talking full on jump suits, gadgets, a laboratory, the whole nine yards. All Mom ever said on the subject was 'your Uncle likes ghosts'.

I got the full tour of my new home. The lab in the basement was cool and full of weapons, the kitchen had man eating hot dogs, which wasn't amusing in the slightest. Aunt Maddie explained that as a side effect of working with ectoplasm at the table. It was looking more and more like fast food and I were about to become best friends.

The second floor had the bedrooms. My aunt and uncles' room, Jazz's room, Danny's room, and finally, my room. Thankfully I wasn't going to have to bunk with someone like I originally thought. The room was fairly spartan in it's makeup. Bed, nightstand, dresser, desk, chair, and that was it. Not that I was complaining, but I was expecting a guest room to have a little more to it than this.

"We stripped it down so you could customize it to your own tastes," Aunt Maddie explained when I asked her. Well, that was nice of them. I sat my pack down before sitting on the bed, bouncing a couple of times in order to test the mattress and springs.

"Is there anything I can get you?" she asked. I shook my head as I kicked off my boots.

"No thanks, I just want to rest a little," I answered.

"Okay, well dinner will be ready soon. I'm sure your cousins are eager to see you," she said before closing the door. I swung my feet up onto the bed and reclined. Sure the net and the killer hot dogs had been off putting, but overall the rest of the place seemed fine, awesome even. The lab was something I couldn't wait to see more of. Out of all the parts of the house I had seen, that part was the most interesting.

I took a short nap before I got up and went down stairs. After the reception I had gotten, the place was oddly quiet and devoid of anyone. Finding no one on the ground floor, I headed down into the basement. Uncle Jack was standing over a workbench with a blow torch, hard at work fixing something and not noticing my presence.

At the far end of the room, standing alone on the far wall was a massive octagon shaped device. It had a pair of massive metal doors painted in hazard colors covering it's center. I stepped closer to it, looking over the handiwork that had gone into building it. Aunt Maddie had said that this was the 'ghost portal', the one invention that was the family's pride and joy.

"So, Jimmy! You want to learn how to fight ghosts, eh?" Uncle Jack asked when he finally took notice of me.

"It's Will. And no, not really," I replied.

"Well, you've come to the right place! You're Aunt and I are the best ghost hunters on the planet!" he declared.

"You're not listening to me, are you?"

"These are ectoblasters, they're guns that run on and fire ectoplasm," Jack continued, holding up a pair of rifles that looked like they had been ripped straight out of some sci fi. Okay, interest peaked a little, but not enough to warrant my full attention.

"I'll just go back upstairs now," I said, starting my way toward the stairs. However, Jack put his arm around my shoulder and turned me around.

"This is the Fenton Portal. It's a gateway into the Ghost Zone and it let's ghosts in whether I want it to or not," he declared proudly, something which I couldn't help but frown upon.

"You're proud of that last bit?" I asked.

"Of course! It means I can blast ghosts and rip 'em apart molecule by molecule!" he said excitedly.

"Does that happen a lot?"

"Quite a bit as of late, actually," he answered. As if on cue, the giant metal doors on the portal slid open, revealing a swirling mass of green light. It was almost hypnotizing if you stared at it long enough. From within the portal came some kind of creature, resembling a cartoon drawing of an octopus, except it had four legs instead of eight.

The thing was sickly green in color, with a massive jack o lantern style mouth, blob shaped head, and huge red eyes. Rather than touch the floor of the lab, it floated about three feet off of the ground. It regarded us hungrily, with slime dripping from it as it's mouth grew wider into a feral smile.

"Suck ectoplasm, freak!" Jack yelled, leveling one of his blasters at the squid thing. The ghost swung one of it's tentacles, striking Jack and sending him flying into a metal cabinet on the far side of the lab. His blaster went airborne, and before I could think I had caught the weapon. The squid was floating closer to me, that same hungry look shining in it's eyes.

Despite the rising fear and panic I felt in my chest, I took a stance similar to the one I took when doing target practice and leveled the blaster at the squid. The weapon let off a high pitched whine as it powered up, and I aimed it dead center, right between those two red eyes.

"Please work like a regular gun," I whispered before squeezing the trigger. A blast of green plasma exploded from the barrel of the weapon and slammed into the squid's face. The creature let out a screech as it flew backwards, going back into the portal from the momentum. Thankfully, the doors slid closed again, and I lowered the blaster and let out a breath I didn't realize I had been holding.

"Hey, not bad! With a little practice, we'll make you a ghost hunter yet!" Jack declared as he got back to his feet, rubbing his head in the process. I couldn't help but let out a groan. This was not how I pictured my high school years going. At all.

* * *

"So when is lunch exactly?" I asked as I stuck my text books into my new locker.

"Noon," came the simultaneous reply of my cousin Danny, and his two friends, Tucker and Sam. If ever there was a trio of outcasts, these three would be it. Danny was on the scrawny side, being about the same height as me with black hair and icy blue eyes to counter my rusty copper colored hair and brown eyes. He wearing a white t shirt and blue jeans, and out of the three, he was probably the least likely to stand out.

Tucker was a techno geek, with the love of tech turned up to about a hundred and fifty percent. He wore a red beanie, yellow shirt, green cargo pants, glasses, and always had some kind of beeping device in his hand. Add in the fact that he was a self proclaimed good looking ladies man, and you had a recipe for daily ass kickings from the jocks.

Last but not least was Sam. I wanted to say that she was a goth, but she really didn't fit the bill. Sure she looked the part; pale complexion, black hair, black shirt which showed off her midriff, a black mini skirt, and combat boots. But her demeanor just didn't say goth to me. Goths from what I had seen tended to sit in the shadows, listening to metal or reading Edger Allen Poe or something like that. Sam was an activist. She had a lot of opinions, and she felt VERY strongly about them.

"And what time is it now?" I asked, feeling my stomach rumble.

"Little after ten," Danny replied, looking at the watch on his wrist.

"You're in luck, they're serving meatloaf today," Tucker added as he sniffed the air. I arched my eyebrow at my cousin as the techno wiz continued to sniff the air like a dog looking for a scent.

"He's part blood hound when it comes to meat," Danny explained.

"Can he find me a burger or some buffalo wings? I didn't get breakfast this morning," I asked, patting my rumbling stomach. I'd forgotten about the man eating hot dogs, and nearly had a chunk taken out of me when I opened the fridge door. Tucker sniffed near me, leaning well within my comfort zone to do so.

"You had wings last night, along with ranch as dipping sauce," he said confidently. I blinked in surprise.

"That's spot on, actually. Impressive," I said. I had taken a shower since then, which was only served to impress me more. The techno geek's grin only increased in size. Slamming the locker door closed, I found myself face to face with a girl who I can honestly say left me stunned for the first time in my life.

She had long curly black hair which came down to the small of her back, a yellow sleeveless t shirt, orange skirt and hairband to match. Her eyes were a rich emerald green, and her flawless skin was a mocha color. Despite my initial stupor, she didn't seem fazed by me in the slightest. In fact, she seemed board to the point that she would have rather been taking a nap than being there at that moment.

"You Hartman?" she asked. I swallowed, getting some moisture back into my mouth and somehow managed to find my voice again.

"Uh, yeah, that's me," I answered. She gave me a look up and down, and didn't seem all that impressed by what she saw.

"I thought so. I'm Valerie, I'm suppose to take you to your next class," she said.

"Okay, I guess," I answered awkwardly before motioning for her to lead the way. Although none of them said anything, both Danny and his friends watched me go like I was being led to the gallows. That wasn't something I found worrying at all. Valerie led me through the halls, twisting and turning and even heading up a flight of stairs. Despite the fact that the building was a boring rectangle, there were a lot more corridors than I would have expected. It was surprisingly easy to get lost if you weren't paying attention.

As we walked, I tried to think of a way to strike up a conversation with my escort. I found her interesting, even if she didn't seem to think of me as being worthy of the time of day. She seemed cold and distant, angry almost, although I doubted that any of it was directed at me. I had literally only just met her, there was no way I could have pissed her off in that time frame. Unless she hated me because of Danny. Teens can be petty like that.

"So..um," I said awkwardly, trying to break the ice between us.

"Where are you from, kid?" she asked, looking back at me and casting a glance at my clothing. I looked down at the red plaid shirt over a gray t shirt and faded blue jeans I was wearing to see if I had spilled anything at some point.

"Arkansas," I answered.

"Hm, that explains it," she said.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Your accent. You don't sound like you're from around here," she explained.

"Oh."

"Yeah. So, you're really Fenton's cousin?" she asked.

"Only one I know of, far as I know," I said with a shrug. I don't think Jazz and Danny had any cousins on their dad's side. Guess I'd find out at Christmas or some other family gathering.

"I suppose I should offer my condolences," Valerie said. I cocked my eyebrow at her.

"What makes you say that?"

"You've seen how his family acts, all the gadgets and quirks and shouting about ghosts," she said.

"Yeah, I've taken notice," I said.

"How do you think that makes them look around here? In everyone's eyes, the Fentons are freaks. Always have been, always will be," she said.

"Ah. So you're sayin' I've already committed social suicide before even setting foot in the school," I said. Despite the tone, a small smirk graced her lips.

"You could say that, yeah," she said. I gave another shrug.

"If I actually cared about stuff like that, I might've been worried," I said. Valerie cast a look at me.

"You don't care about having friends?" she asked.

"It ain't that. This is high school. It'll be over in a few years, and after that none of it will have mattered. I'd rather have a single friend who'll stick by me cause I'm me than a hundred who like me cause it the cool thing to do," I answered. She looked at me now like she was trying to figure me out, not just cause I had gotten dumped on her and she was trying to get rid of me. It was a step in the right direction at least.

"Hey, I'd didn't properly introduce myself back there. I'm Valerie Gray," she said, stopping and extending her hand. I took it and shook it. Her hand felt soft, but there was defiantly strength behind her grip.

"Will Hartman," I said.

"It's nice to meet you, Will," she said, giving me a small, kind smile.

"Likewise, Valerie."

* * *

"Does this happen often?" I asked. We were eating lunch outside, enjoying one of the last warm days of the year before winter fully set in. In the sky above us, a metal suit with flaming green hair was duking it out with a white haired kid wearing a black jumpsuit. It was just Tucker and Sam sitting at the table besides myself. Danny was off doing something for a teacher or something.

"Every other day it seems," Sam replied, pausing only briefly to look away from her salad and look up at the floating fist fight. I looked around us and realized that she was probably right. Everyone else was either watching with a mild interest or ignoring the fight completely.

"When this first started at the beginning of the year, everyone would freak out and run away. Now, it happens so often and the ghost kid always wins, so no one really cares anymore," Tucker explained. I shook my head in disbelief and went back to watching the fight.

"This place is just weird," I said.

"Eh, you get use to it," Sam said. At that moment, the flying suit of armor delivered a powerful left hook, sending the white haired kid through a tree and smashing a table like he was a meteor. Apparently this didn't happen all that often, cause everyone around him immediately took their belongings and scattered as fast as they could.

To my surprise, the kid stood up amongst the splintered remains of the table and glared up at his opponent. He was bruised, and he was holding his side, but otherwise he seemed alright. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that both Tucker and Sam had stopped what they were doing and were watching intently as well.

"I do not have time to deal with you today, whelp!" the flying suit bellowed down from his position overhead. The kid raised his hands and fired a green beam of energy at his enemy. The impact sent him careening out of sight.

"Make time!" he yelled back before jumping into the air and taking flight after him. I stood from my seat and watched them go, not quite sure what exactly I was looking at.

"Okay, does THAT happen very often?" I asked, turning back to the other two. To my surprise, they were both gone, having vanished into thin air and leaving their trays behind with untouched food. The sound of jet engines filled the air. Turning, I found myself face to face with a figure standing on a hovering metal surfboard.

The person wearing the suit was female, if the curves were anything to go by. Her suit itself was red, and hid every bit of her identity. She was holding a rather large blaster, similar to the ones that Uncle Jack had, only the lights on this one were a magenta color. Holding the weapon aloft with one hand, while putting her other hand on her hip, she paused and looked down at me.

"New in town, kid?" she asked. Her voice sounded familiar, but given how my morning had been going so far, I didn't really have time to process it.

"Uh, yeah," I said.

"Take my advice, just run. It'll be easier to hit the bad guys when you're not in the way," she said before rocketing off in the direction the first two had gone. I stood there and watched her go, not sure if I wanted to follow her advice and run, or be insulted. There wasn't any time to make up my mind, as the white haired kid came crashing down on another table. The woman in red reappeared over him, aiming her blaster at his head.

"No where to run, ghost kid," she said, her voice containing malice and the sense of an achievement finally being achieved. Before she could fire, a blue white energy beam slammed into her side, sending her crashing into a tree and her rocket sled careening into the ground. The suit of armor appeared in her place, a smoking blaster sticking out of his wrist.

"This pray is mine," he said. The white haired kid wasted no time, raising his hands and firing the green beams. His target was sent flying backward into the sky with a grunt, having been caught off guard by the attack.

"Back off, Skulker!" he yelled before jumping after him. I hurried over to the woman's side and knelt down beside her. Her chest was moving, indicating that she was still alive. Raising her mask, I realized with a start that it was Valerie, the same girl who had shown me around school that morning. What kind of school was I going to where students were flying around shooting at ghosts?

The flying tank, Skulker, recovered from the attack and back armed the white haired kid, sending him back into the ground for a third time. Looking around us, I spied Valerie's blaster lying a short distance away.

"It is dishonorable to interfere upon another's hunt," he said before turning his attention toward us. He raised his right hand, and a set of Predator style blades extended from the gauntlet. My eyes went wide as I realized that he intended to kill the defenseless girl beside me. I was moving before I even realized what was going on, diving forward, grabbing the blaster up, and opening fire on Skulker.

He must not have expected the sudden barrage of plasma fire, cause rather then return fire, he recoiled backward in surprise. Despite being quick and sporadic, my aim managed to find it's mark, blowing off a boot, followed by hitting one of the jet engines he used to fly. Skulker let out a yell of surprise as he suddenly went out of control, flying about like a balloon with a hole in it before vanishing from view all together.

"Will!" The sound of my name caused me to snap toward the voice, raising the blaster again out of pure instinct. The white haired kid was floating again, and he didn't look remotely concerned that I was aiming directly between his eyes.

"Take her and get out of here!" he ordered. Now, I had a chance to think, and I lowered the blaster a little. Today was my first day here. How did he know who I was?

"How do you-?"

"There's no time, just go!" he snapped before speeding off in the direction Skulker had gone. I watched him go before lowering the blaster entirely and crawling back to Valerie's side. Grabbing her shoulders, I shook her slightly in an effort to wake her. I didn't do it too much, as I was afraid she might have broken something in her fall.

"Hey, Valerie, you alright?" I asked. She groaned and slowly opened her eyes, looking up at me with confusion. After a second, her eyes went wide and her hands shot up to her face. She started to shoot her feet, by my hands kept her in place.

"Easy! You took a pretty bad fall, there might be more wrong with you than a couple of bruises," I said. She grabbed me by the front of the shirt with one hand and raised her free hand into a fist as if she intended to crater my nose.

"You better not tell anyone, you hear me? If you do, I swear I'll-!"

"Valerie, we got more important things to worry about right now!" I snapped. She realized I was right, released her grip on my shirt, and pulled her mask back down.

"Where did they go?" she asked as I haled her to her feet. As she stood, she let out a gasp of pain and started to fall again. I caught her and slung her arm around my neck, supporting her weight before motioning in the direction the other two had gone with the blaster still in my hand.

"That way," I said. She looked down past me, at her blaster, cocking her head curiously.

"Did…did you use that to defend me?" she asked.

"Not exactly what you pictured for a knight in shining armor, huh," I replied. She didn't really say anything, but rather looked toward her rocket sled.

"I just got that fixed," she said, sounding defeated before pressing a button on her wrist. Instantly the suit she was wearing, as well as the sled and the blaster in my hand all retracted into the pack on her back, leaving behind the clothing she had been wearing that morning. I blinked in surprise and awe. There wasn't anything near this level of tech back home.

"Well, that's helpful," I said.

"We need to get to my place," Valerie said.

"Wouldn't the hospital be better?"

"Too many questions. Come on, I can patch myself up," she said. I looked over my shoulder, back in the direction the other two had gone.

"Alright, point the way," I said, suddenly not really caring if I finished the school day or not.

_Third person POV_

Deep within the Ghost Zone stood a single tower with various bits of clockwork sticking out of it. Within this tower was a single entity. A hooded, pale blue figure with a staff floated, watching the events of the day unfold upon a screen. His form shifted, appearing first as a boy, then as a young man, and finally as an old man with a long gray beard.

He watched the images of Will and Valerie as they stumbled along the sidewalk with an expressionless face. Lifting his staff, he watched as the images shifted. It cycled, shifting through images of Will's mother being arrested, Will boarding a plane, and Will squaring off against the squid ghost in the lab beneath Fenton Works.

"All of the pieces are falling into place," Clockwork said to himself. The Master of Time cast a glance toward the corner of the room. There stood a single silver and green canister, in the shape of a soup thermos. The frame of the cylinder was dinted and started to be bent out of shape. Even a blind man could see that it was beginning to fail in it's containment of what was inside, and the Clockwork could see all.

"And not a moment too soon," he mused, watching as another dent appeared in the thermos.

**And cut. That's a wrap for this chapter. As big as the Danny Phantom archive is, I was honestly surprised that there aren't anymore stories like this. Or maybe there are and I just missed them. Anyway, like I said at the beginning this is a test chapter of sorts. If people like it, I'll continue on with it. If not, well I guess that's that then. So, be sure to read, review and let me know whether you liked it or not, so we can see if I'll see you in the next one. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, I'm back with a second chapter. A lot of people seemed interested in this thing's potential so here I am. Let's get the show on the road.**

Valerie's place was alright, I guess. It was a cheap apartment in a run down suburb of Amity Park called Elmerton. It wasn't as nice as Fenton Works was, but it was passable. Then again, I'd grown up around rotting trailers, meth labs, and moonshine stills. Compared to that, Valerie's place was a royal palace. I helped her hobble in and lay down on the couch. She stifled a cry of pain as she hit the cushions.

"You okay?" I asked with concern.

"Bruised ribs, nothing a little pain killer won't take care of," she replied with a grimace.

"You're sure you don't need a hospital."

"Will, I told you, hospitals ask too many questions. Besides, I've had way worse than this," she said. I wasn't convinced, but after what I'd seen this afternoon, I didn't want to be the one to try and force her to do anything, even if she was hurt.

"Alright, we'll do it your way. What do you need?" I asked.

"Med kit, my room, under the bed," she replied, pointing to a door off to the side. I followed where she indicated and went into the room. When it comes to teenage girls, I'm not really sure what could be considered normal in terms of decoration. Whatever it is, it's defiantly not Valerie's room. Wanted posters adorned the wall, front and center of which was the white haired kid fighting Skulker this afternoon, although Skulker was up there as well.

Posters aside, there was equipment everywhere. Vials and vats containing a green goop labeled as 'ecto samples' sat in a small, makeshift lab. Blasters of various sizes were mounted on the wall alongside the posters. To top it all off, some dumbbells and a set of bars for chin ups were next to a small bed. This girl was intense, that much I could tell.

As I headed toward the bed, my eye fell on the wanted poster of the white haired kid again. The whole time I'd interacted with him, I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something familiar about him. Now that I got a good front and center look, I finally knew why. He resembled Danny, and in a passing way either. I mean full on doppelgänger resembled him. The major differences were hair and eye color.

That didn't sit well with me at all. During the fight, Danny had been no where to be found. But the guy that looked almost exactly like him was front and center? Not to mention his friends had up and vanished the instant the fight started to go sideways. Granted there was the possibility they'd run off like everyone else, but my little paranoid mind wasn't quite ready to dismiss it so easily.

Looking under her bed, I found the kit Valerie had sent me after. It was a small, olive green little thing with a red cross inside of a white circle on the lid. Grabbing it up, I headed back out into the living room.

"So what's the deal with that white haired kid?" I asked as I handed the kit over.

"He's a ghost. I hunt ghosts," Valerie answered, as if that explained it all. I shook my head as she opened the metal box and pulled some bandages out.

"That can't be it. His bounty isn't the highest on your wall, yet he's front and center," I pointed out.

"Why do you even care?" she asked.

"'Cause I'm new here, and way out of my element with no one seeming to want to explain anything. Frankly it's starting to piss me off," I replied. Valerie seemed to consider this for a moment before hiking up her shirt some, revealing her midriff. My hormone infused teenage mind might have been intrigued by this, if not for the ugly bruising that was visible all over her stomach area. Taking the bandages, she began wrapping them around her midsection.

"Okay, I can see your point," she said, tearing the bandage with her teeth and sticking it down before lowering her shirt.

"So what is going on, exactly?" I asked.

"It started just before the beginning of the school year. Rumors, strange things happening around the city. I didn't believe any of it at first, until that ghost kid and his dog tore though Axion Labs. My Dad was the head contractor for the security at the facility, and he lost his job as a result," she said.

"Ouch," I said, wincing at the thought.

"You're telling me," she said with a huff, "We were in the process of moving when that kid and his dog turned up with his dog again. They smashed all our stuff and forced us to restart from scratch."

"And you took up ghost hunting to get revenge," I said.

"At first, yeah, that was the idea. But then the attacks started getting worse. Every time it seemed the scale was turned up a little. Finally there was a massive ghost attack. People being attacked in the streets, mass panic, the whole nine yards. The mayor even got attacked in the middle of a city council meeting," she explained.

"And the white haired kid?"

"He was at the center of it all," she replied, pointing to a newspaper clipping on the wall. I looked it over. The picture showed the white haired kid holding a balding middle aged man in a headlock. The headline 'Ghost Kid attacks Mayor! Public Enemy Number One' was sprawled across the clipping.

"Suddenly the fight wasn't just about me anymore. I realized that there was almost nothing standing between innocent people and these ecto freaks, so I've been doing what I can to try and fend them off," Valerie said.

"There's only so much one person can do," I noted.

"If I don't, who will?" she asked. I remained quiet for a long time, thinking about all of this. For the first time, I began to understand the scale of what was going on in this town. If this only started recently, there had to be a reason behind it. Something that set off this sudden spike in the paranormal. Then, my Uncle Jack's words echoed though my mind.

'This is the Fenton Portal. It's a gateway into the Ghost Zone and it lets ghosts in whether I want it to or not.'

I didn't know when the portal had first been activated, but if I had to bet, I would have guessed it was sometime around the start of the school year when the first sightings started. Hell, I'd seen the damn thing let a ghost in with my own eyes. Given Uncle Jack's general lack of competence, it wouldn't surprise me at all if there had been more than just the one slip through.

"This is a lot to take in," I finally said, sitting down on the couch next to her. Valerie snorted at that.

"You're telling me. A few months ago I was one of the most popular people in school, and now I do this," she said, motioning to the room around us.

"A few months ago I was chopping firewood every morning," I replied, earning a small smile from her.

"I guess things have changed a lot for both of us, lately, huh," she said. I returned her smile and nodded, looking at our reflection in the TV. She was right, things had changed a lot lately. From backwoods cabin to ghost infested city. I'm not sure if a more major flip could have been pulled off if it tried.

Still, assuming Valerie wasn't crazy, and something told me she wasn't, from what I had been able to gather so far she was more or less on her own in this whole situation. Uncle Jack was the type of person who'd accidently shoot you in the back when going into a fight. Aunt Maddie spent all of her time trying to either fix Jack's mistakes or contain the results from them. Jazz was an academic, and would probably turn her nose up at the thought alone.

That left Danny and his friends. My cousin was something of a confused mess to me. The kid I remembered playing with growing up never ran from a fight. He faced me and a big dog down without a second of hesitation because he was defending what was his. But in the fight at the school it was the total opposite as he'd been no where to be found. The same with Sam and Tucker, they'd both ran at the first sign of trouble. They probably wouldn't hold up in a fight. Maybe. I would have to look into it more.

There was only one person left on my rather short list; me. With time and practice I could learn how to use the equipment. I was already a decent shot with a blaster, and I'd only get better with training. Same with the other bits of tech that would be needed. I wasn't much, a kid from Arkansas who'd more or less wandered into some kind of sci fi paranormal thing. But I wasn't the kind of person to turn away from someone who needed help. And right now, Valerie needed help.

"I could help you," I offered, putting my thoughts to words. She looked at me like she hadn't heard me quite right.

"You mean, like, with all this?" she asked, making a general gesture around the room. I shrugged.

"Ain't offering to do your homework if that's what you're askin' about," I replied. Valerie face was one of amused disbelief, a crooked grin as she shook her head. After a few moments, the look began to fade as she realized I was being completely serious in my offer.

"You…you're really offering, aren't you?" she asked.

"You said it yourself, there's only so much one person can do," I replied.

"Will, I can't ask that of you. It's too dangerous, and I can't run the risk of you getting hurt," she said.

"Who was helping who home this afternoon?" I asked, folding my arms. She looked away from me, toward the TV.

"You weren't in the thick of the fight," she argued, although rather weakly.

"I can handle myself. And you're not asking, I'm volunteering. You're carrying the weight of school and this on your shoulders alone. The least I can do is lighten the load a little," I replied. For the longest time, Valerie was silent, refusing to look at me.

"There's also the fact that my aunt and uncle are renowned ghost hunters as well, so I have access to all their equipment," I added when it seemed like I wasn't getting anywhere. Finally, she let out a sigh.

"Let me sleep on it, alright?" she asked. I simply nodded, happy to just have made it this far. As I stood, she held out her hand toward me and wagged her fingers. I frowned and cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Your phone. I'm gonna give you my number so we can stay in contact," she said. I dug my cell out of my pocket and handed it to her. She quickly saved herself in my contact before handing it back to me. For a moment, I just stood there, gawking at the device in my hand.

"What?" she asked, noticing my stupor.

"Nothing, it's just…this isn't how I pictured it going when a girl gave me her number for the first time," I answered.

"Don't make me regret this, Hartman," she warned, even though she had an amused smile on her face. I chuckled as I pocketed my phone and opened the door. Before walking out, I paused and looked back at her.

"You gonna be alright?" I asked.

"Yeah. This isn't the first time I've had to patch myself up," she replied.

"Okay. Let me know if anything changes, I'll see you at school," I said.

"See you tomorrow, Will," she replied. With that, I closed the door and began the long trek back to Fenton Works.

I had a lot to think about on my walk. My family, my new friend, well, I guess she was my friend. I took potshots at a metal Predator defending her and helped her limp home. If that didn't fall under the friend category I don't know what did. Then there was Danny. Again, I was confused by what I had seen. I'd seen bravery in Danny when he was younger, but now it seemed like he was a complete coward, or at least had developed enough of a sense of self preservation to not be in the same area as danger when it occurred.

A new idea popped into my head. What if Danny was the white haired kid? My first reaction was to scoff. But the more I thought about, the less scoff worthy the idea seemed. The two were almost physically identical. It explained why one was only seen when the other wasn't around. It would also explain where the brave kid I remembered growing up had gone.

That didn't quite explain the physical differences between the two. Although the more I thought about it, the less important those seemed. Between the tech I'd seen in both Valerie's and my relatives' possessions, changing something like hair and eye color didn't seem to be all that difficult to pull off. As I kicked an empty can along the sidewalk, I resolved to find out the truth once and for all.

* * *

"Will! Changed your mind on ghost hunting, have you?" Uncle Jack boomed as I stepped into the lab. I cringed as the big man turned away from whatever he had been working on to focus on me. It was like he got a mental proximity alert the second my foot stepped off of the stairs. My hope had been to come down here and do a quick inventory of weapons and gear in order to get a basic idea of what I had to work with.

"Yes and no," I answered hesitantly, "what are you working on?"

"Oh, I'm just redesigning some of the ecto pistols. I've streamlined them and given them a new power pack," he said, gesturing his hand over his work. Unlike the other, bulky ecto pistols which usually had a square body, or something resembling a soup can with a handle and trigger welded on it, these pistols were much more slim and eloquent.

They somewhat resembled a revolver out of the old west, with various green lights over them. He picked one up and broke the weapon apart where it the part that resembled a cylinder was, allowing the barrel and cylinder to fall forward and be exposed to the air. A ring of lights lined the frame of the cylinder, ranging from red to green as they went around. Currently it was blinking red.

"I've also made it to where the power packs can easily changed out for a quick reload," he said, removing the cylinder and replacing it with a new one. Instantly, the ring of lights all lit up, going from red to green before he snapped the weapon closed again. Turning, he handed the weapon to me handle first.

"Here, give it a try!" he said enthusiastically. I looked at it and back up at him.

"Has this thing been tested yet?" I asked.

"Nope! That's what makes it so fun!" he said before pressing a button. On the far side of the room, a set of targets popped up. They all resembled cartoonish versions of ghosts, but it was clear they were targets none the less. I looked from them to the gun in my hand. If I wanted to help Valerie, I was gonna need a weapon, and if I was gonna be any good, I need to know how to work it properly.

Raising the gun, I took careful aim at the first target, lining up the sights with the middle of it's head. The gun felt perfectly balanced in my hand, natural almost. I took a deep breath through my nose and held it for a moment before slowly letting it out, saying a silent prayer that it didn't blow up in my hand. With that, I squeezed the trigger.

A green plasma bolt rocketed out of the barrel of the blaster, slamming into the target and decapitating it. The gun itself barely even moved with recoil, and I felt myself perk up a little with my success. Adjusting my aim, I took down the other targets in quick succession.

"Look at that, you're a natural!" Jack praised.

"You got a good design there," I said as I turned the gun over and handed it back to him, "what about armor?"

"Armor?" he asked, as if the word was brand new to him.

"Yeah, don't you have anything in terms of body armor?" I asked.

"One or two prototype designs. But your Aunt and I mainly use jumpsuits when fighting ghosts," he said after a moment of thought. I couldn't help but frown at that.

"Jumpsuits?"

"Yeah! They look cool and they've got all kinds of pockets and hidey holes on them," he said enthusiastically.

"But, ghosts are generally stronger than humans. Wouldn't it make sense to have something to protect you other than just a jumpsuit?" I asked, remembering all the damage caused by the fight today.

"Maybe. But until I can find a way to make a set of amour pants that don't make me look fat, I'll continue to fight ghosts and look cool while doing it," he declared. The memory of the octopus ghost thrashing him without breaking a sweat flashed through my mind, and I didn't doubt for a second that was exactly what he was going to do. He must have sensed my unease, or just wanted to show off another piece of gear, because at that moment he turned to his work bench and handed me a helmet.

It was made from a simple gray metal, with a single slit of tinted glass over where the eyes were suppose to be. A few slits in the metal lined the area where the nose and mouth were protected, and a single antenna stuck out of the right side of the thing, right over the ear. To top it all off, the thing had some weight to it, a vague hint to the gear and protection stored inside.

"Here, this should suit your fancy. The Fenton Helm Mk. 1. It has a heads up display with thermal, night vision, a targeting system, a times ten zoom, and a short wave radio," he explained, pointing to various parts of it as he went. I blinked, impressed at what I was seeing.

"Nice."

"There's also a built in air filtration system, able to filter out even the most lethal of toxic gases," he said, pointing to the slits over the nose and mouth.

"Do ghosts use toxic gas?" I asked.

"Skunk ghosts," he answered, like he was giving the time of day. I made a mental note to run far and fast if I ever came across a neon green rodent of any kind. Curiosity took hold, and I slid the helmet on over my head. Oddly enough, despite the initial weight, the helmet didn't put me off balance in any way. I was able to turn my head one way and then the other without any real hindrance.

The heads up display came to life, displaying various bits of information across my vision in dark green letting. A tiny little set of crosshairs appeared, and followed my vision around as I glanced about. After a few moments of this, a big text reading 'No Weapon Detected' appeared across the center of my vision, blocking most of my view.

"It says no weapon detected," I relayed to my uncle.

"Oh, hang on a second. Here, try this," he said before slapping the ecto blaster I had just used back into my hand. The text across my vision disappeared, and a new set of numbers reading 40/50 appeared in the lower right hand corner. I realized this must have been an ammo counter, so the heads up display could tell me how many shots I'd have left before I needed to change power packs.

"I gotta admit, this is pretty awesome," I said, turning on the spot and watching a little compass in the bottom center of my field of vision spin with me.

"It IS, isn't it," he said before plucking the helmet from my head, "however none of it's been field tested yet. There's still a bug here or there that needs to be sorted out."

"I could do it for you," I offered, innocently enough. Jack actually laughed at that.

"I like your enthusiasm, but it's Fenton policy not to get minors involved in ghost fighting. There's too many legal ramifications for that," he said.

"What about Jazz and Danny?" I asked.

"They're different. I'm legally responsible for them."

"And me now," I pointed out. He put his hand to his chin in thought.

"True. But still, not yet. Not until I get a few more bugs worked out," he said. I shrugged at that. It wasn't necessarily a no. Not a yes, either, but not a solid no.

"Alright. I'm headed upstairs now," I said, laying the blaster back on the desk before heading back up the stairs. The house was quieter than usual. Aunt Maddie was out buying groceries, and Jazz was out doing some after school thing. That meant it was just Uncle Jack, Danny, and myself. Making my way up to the second floor, I decided that now was as good time as any to talk to my cousin.

I banged my fist on his door a few times and waited. After a few moments, the door cracked open, and Danny stuck his head around it to see who it was.

"What?" he asked in a board tone.

"Got a minute?"

"That depends entirely on what you want," he replied.

"Answers, mainly," I said. He was quiet for a moment, and then sighed, stepped back, and opened the door wider for me. I came into his room and took a seat at his desk, while he plopped down on his bed.

"So," he started.

"I'm gonna be blunt, cousin. In the few days since I got here, I've been stuffed in a net, mauled by hot dogs, and attacked by ghosts twice. Not to mention, one of said ghosts seems to know who I am before I've even fully unpacked my things. And he happens to look almost exactly like you," I said. Danny's eyes flared with his temper, although there was also a hint of fear in there as well.

"You think I'm the ghost kid?!" he asked.

"I'm saying that I'm not in the mood to be lied to, so I want the truth. Are you or are you not the white haired kid that was at school today?" I asked.

"Hello? Black hair? Blue eyes? Do I even look like the ghost kid to you?" he asked. I frowned and folded my arms.

"You have man eating hot dogs in your fridge and there's an interdimensional portal swirling two floors beneath your shoes. Changing hair and eye color should be a snap," I deadpanned.

"I'm telling you, it's not me," he defended. I sighed. It wasn't a surprise that he'd try to deflect my accusation. I would probably be doing the same thing if I was in his position.

"Maybe, maybe not. Just remember this, it doesn't matter if you are the white haired kid or not, if I made the connection, it's only a matter of time before that Valerie girl or someone else does too. And when that happens, they'll be less willing to talk it out than me," I said before heading to the door, leaving him with that thought as I headed back to my room.

I hoped he understood what I was trying to tell him. It didn't matter if he was the white haired kid or not, sooner or later someone was going to come gunning for him based on his looks alone. If I was gonna go through with this thing with Valerie, I'd have to keep my eye on him. Assuming I was right, and Danny was the white haired kid, I'd have to keep her off of him somehow. If not, I'd have to protect him. Valerie wasn't stupid. Like I warned Danny, if I figured it out, it was only a matter of time before she did too. I just hoped that I knew what I was getting into with all this craziness.

Looking back now, it's no surprise that I had no idea at all of just what I was dealing with.

**And cut. That's all for this time. Let me know what you guys thought about this chapter. Drop a review, leave a PM, let me know what you liked or didn't like, and I'll see you all next time. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys, I'm back with a somewhat late chapter. But, it's here now, so let's get this show on the road: **

_Two months later._

"Pick it up, Hartman!" Valerie yelled. I dove over a concrete barrier and came up, an ectoblaster in each hand. The three ghost shaped targets that popped up were blasted into smoldering bits in a flash. Another popped up to my left, and another to my right. I leveled both blasters outward and shot them both at the same time.

One target appeared from the ceiling and began to race along in a zigzag pattern. I raised the blasters upward and fired a shot from each one. The first blast of plasma missed, while the second winged the target. It wasn't enough to destroy it, but it did stop on it's course. I brought up a blaster again and squeezed the trigger to finish it off, but was rewarded with a click and a beep from the weapon. Undaunted, I raised the second blaster, but was rewarded with the same results.

"Think fast, Hartman, seconds matter in the field!" came Valerie's voice. I broke open the blasters, and with a smoothness that only months of practice could bring, loaded new power packs into them and blasted the target into oblivion. Two more came from my left, racing along tracks in the ceiling. I turned on the balls of my feet and blasted them as well.

Standing fully upright again, I gave both blasters a twirl before blowing away the wisps of smoke from the barrels. At the moment, I felt like a badass. Week after week of running the course, and I finally had it down to where I could almost do it in my sleep.

We were in an abandoned warehouse in the docks area of Elmerton. All of the main shipping it seemed had shifted more toward Amity Park proper, so this area had more abandoned space for us to practice in. Valerie had driven out some spirit calling itself the Box Ghost and had taken over this place as a practice course, seeing as how her small apartment offered almost nothing in the way of space for that kind of thing.

"Not bad, you shaved seven seconds off your time," Valerie said as she came over to me, looking at the stopwatch in her hand. She was wearing her usual maroon ghost hunting gear, but was lacking the mask.

"I told you I was getting good at this," I said with a grin as I slid the blasters into the holsters on my hips. Valerie gave me a half smile.

"You did. But don't let this go to your head. The course isn't the same as going up against actual ghosts," she warned.

"I'm gonna have to field test the helmet at some point, Val," I said. It had taken a while, but I had finally convinced Uncle Jack to let me have the Fenton Helm for my own uses. By convinced, I mean I had stolen it from the lab and then distracted him with fudge and ham so that he wouldn't notice it was gone. So far it had paid off and I had at least a basic understanding on how it operated now.

"When you're ready. For now, work on your aim. I want you being able to do one shot, one kill," she said before turning away and grabbing her backpack. I noticed her work uniform contained inside before she zipped it up.

"'Nother double shift at the Nasty Burger?" I asked, earning a cringe from her. It wasn't that long ago when Valerie had been one of the 'In' crowd at Caspar High. Now that her dad had been dropped from head of a security firm to security guard, she'd been forced to sell a lot of her stuff and get a job in order to help support her family. The whole thing was a sore spot for her, and one that caused no shortage of embarrassment. When I'd figured it out about a month ago, she threatened to beat me into the ground if I told anyone.

"No, I got Ned Duty," she replied glumly.

"Ouch." Nasty Ned was the mascot of Nasty Burger, this robot chef looking thing that I couldn't decide was a rip off of Jack in the Box or not. It was something of a local attraction, being both a photo opportunity for families and a punching bag for the football team. This meant that anyone who got stuck with 'Ned Duty' as Valerie had come to call it was in for eight hours of basic torture.

"Heh, yeah, you're telling me," she said.

"It could be worse," I said.

"Did I mention I got stuck with Danny for the Tetslaff project?" This earned a cringe from me. Tetslaff was the school gym/health teacher. I'm also pretty sure her previous job was a drill sergeant, given she was a renowned hard ass when it came to any of the courses she taught. The latest in a long line of stress related assignments was a parental assignment designed to teach child care for a newborn.

Looking back on it, the project was probably the school's way of scaring the students into abstinence. It might have worked too, if it wasn't for the fact that the babies were flower sacks with smiley faces slapped on them instead of actual dolls. Probably from budget cuts or something, that's the excuse teachers are always using anyway.

All the students had been split off into pairs, one boy and one girl. Tucker with Sam, Danny with Valerie, and a girl named Star with me. Star was a blonde haired, blue eyed beauty who was friends with Valerie, pretty much the only one from the popular crowd that still talked to her in fact. She didn't like me in the slightest, given my relation to Danny, and she'd made that clear multiple times since the assignment had begun.

It didn't help that Danny and Valerie still hated each other. They shared a general dislike of each other in public, and usually shot first and asked questions never when it came to their alter egos. I'd tried to get them to come to the peace table a couple of times, but my attempts usually ended in failure. Danny still maintained that he wasn't the ghost kid that Valerie was hunting, and Valerie pretty much had a blood oath to claim Danny's scalp by this point.

"Ew. I kinda get that. I got stuck with Star," I said.

"She's not so bad once she gets to know you," Valerie said, sticking up for her friend.

"Something tells me she doesn't want to get to know me."

"Give her a chance, please? For me?" she asked, flashing those big green eyes of hers. I sighed, but gave her a smile anyway.

"I'll be nice to her, but I can only go so far. She'll have to meet me half way at some point," I said.

"That's all I ask. Now, I gotta get to work, keep up on those targets," she said, and like that she was gone. I shook my head after her, but reset the course and prepared for another run. As much as I chomping at the bit to go out and do a field test, I kind of agreed with her. Having seen first hand how ghosts operated and how powerful they could be, I didn't want to face one until I was absolutely sure I couldn't improve on my performance anymore.

Besides, combat practice gave me two added bonuses. Workout, and time to think. I was no where near being a ripped hunk by any stretch of the imagination, but I was defiantly in much better shape than when I had first arrived in Amity Park. This would only get better with time and effort, and it might land me a girlfriend by the time I graduated.

As I blasted away at targets, I used the time to try and think about my current situation. The whole Danny/Valerie thing was going to have to be put on the back burner for now. They were both simply too stubborn to be able to convince. Unless one side caved and gave up a little ground in good faith, it simply wasn't going to happen. I, frankly, didn't have the means of convincing them.

Valerie and I had gotten close over the past couple of months to be sure, but it was still more of a professional relationship rather than a personal one. She was still a little hesitant about opening up to someone, which given that her just about all of her friends had ditched her when her wealth status had changed, I couldn't blame her.

My relationship with my cousin, on the other hand, was a little...awkward for lack of a better term. Sure, we lived under the same roof, got along great both at home and at school, even hung out every once in a while when we didn't find ourselves busy with extra curricular activities. But there was this underlying frostiness there that stemmed from when I had accused him of being the ghost kid. Even though he had outright denied it, and still maintained that denial, he was very cautious around me. Like with Valerie, I found I couldn't blame him for feeling that way. From his point of view, I was a wild card that had apparently figured out his biggest secret within three days, and now seemed to spend a lot of time with one of his arch rivals.

Personally, I had no intention of ratting out Danny to Valerie. Ghost or not, he was still family, and from what I had seen since I had gotten here, he'd done nothing but try to help against the growing ghost threat. So I had taken steps to try and insure that Valerie didn't find out about Danny's identity. A misleading suggestion here, a tiny bit of sabotage to an experiment there, little things to try and throw her off the scent. I knew that it was only a temporary measure in the long run. Valerie was smart, clever, and determined. It was only a matter of time until she figured out the truth.

But I set all of this to the side. As much as the city would benefit from them working together, neither one was willing to stand down long enough for a talk. Neither one of them really trusted me enough yet for me to try and convince them to do so either. So, my time thinking was better devoted to trying to figure out how to deal with my immediate problem. Namely, Star and this whole flower sack fiasco.

Star was what Tucker had designated as a 'satellite'. Namely, she had the looks, personality, and monetary background to definitely be considered one of the popular crowd, but she wasn't nearly pretty or charismatic enough to be the queen bee. Thus, she was always seen in the head popular girl's orbit, hence the designation. Unfortunately for me, that meant I was grinding my teeth and considering the pros and cons of lobotomy via mechanical pencil every time I got stuck with her in class.

The problem with Star, like most of the other girls in her particular group, was that she was about as deep as a five gallon bucket. Her primary focus was on maintaining her popularity and good looks, with little regard to anything beyond graduation. Although to her credit, she did still maintain a friendship with Valerie, so she wasn't nearly as bad as some of her peers.

Maybe Valerie was right, maybe she wouldn't be as bad if I got to know her.

* * *

"You did what now?" I asked. I was standing in the cafeteria, trying to process what had just been told to me without looking like a slack jawed idiot.

"I gave the sack to a babysitting service," Star repeated, not looking up from her small, folding pocket mirror.

"Tetslaff gave the assignment yesterday, where did you find a babysitting service? Who the hell even babysits a sack of flower to begin with?" I asked.

"Oh, your little techno geek friend," she replied, absentmindedly waving a hand in the general direction of Tucker, who was eating with Danny and Sam on the other side of the room.

"I don't think that qualifies," I said.

"Whatever. You wanna get an F, you go right ahead and take that sack for yourself," she said. I shook my head before turning and heading off. There was no point in arguing with someone who didn't care about the conversation to begin with. Instead I headed to the library. They were serving two things for lunch today; ham sandwich, and some ultra vegetarian nightmare they were trying to pass off as food. It was better to wait and just get something when the day ended.

The library was fairly quiet at most times of the day. The few people that were there either had their nose buried in a book or were surfing on the computers. I just found a quiet corner table and plopped down. Usually in my quiet time I just doodled in a journal I kept. Most of it was just random scribbles, an abstract idea that never really took much of a form. But sometimes they molded into something bigger.

There were traces of Tucker, Sam, Danny, and others, usually doing something they enjoyed. Tucker with his PDA, Sam with a protest sign, Danny with a space suit helmet. The one I was currently working on was of Valerie. She wasn't doing anything outlandish or anything like that, just wearing her usual school attire while looking at something out of frame.

I wasn't sure why, but for some reason I was putting more detail into this picture than I usually did. It was kind of like running the course. The more I focused on the drawing, the more I could think and take my mind off of the problems that were bothering me. Star being completely uninterested in the project was probably going to cost us both the assignment.

In fact, looking back on it, she was probably banking on me not wanting to fail in order for us to pass, because I would step up and take over. What Star didn't realize was that I had already taken and passed this class before I transferred. Pretty much the only reason I was still in Tetslaff's class was because the school lacked a stable councilor. I could fail this class with the worst F in Caspar High history, and it wouldn't leave a blemish on my record.

The fact that she had no idea what was coming her way helped to lessen my stress a little. My hope was that it might teach her to step up and take a little responsibility. But, I kind of doubted it. She hadn't even bothered to make eye contact during our conversation. Somehow I doubted that failing a flower sack project would even register on her radar unless it effected her ability to be a cheerleader or something.

"Hey, little cousin." The new voice startled me, causing me to draw a big line straight off the page. I clenched my teeth as I realized what I had done before I set to erasing my mistake.

"What's up, Jazz?" I asked, glancing upward briefly to confirm that's indeed who it was.

"Why aren't you eating lunch? I don't think I've ever seen you pass up the chance to eat," she said.

"They're serving ham sandwiches and literal grass on bread, I've seen better offerings from under the grill at the Nasty Burger," I replied before blowing off some eraser shavings.

"Oh, yeah. That's why I always bag lunch it," she said, holding up a brown sack, "whatchya workin' on?"

"Nothing that will get you into Harvard," I answered, covering the drawing with both hands and sliding the journal away from her. She looked a little hurt and offended at that.

"Oh come on, you can trust me," she said. I gave her a pointed look.

"Jazz, do I go into your room and read your diary?" I asked. Her look turned to one of anger.

"Not if you know what's good for you," she said.

"Then can you do me the courtesy of not looking into my stuff?" I asked.

"It's just a drawing, Will. And besides, art offers windows into the artist's soul," she said.

"I thought those were the eyes."

"Will," she said, glaring at me. I groaned before sliding the journal toward her.

"Fine." Jazz poured over the drawing I had been working on with wide, eager eyes and her usual confident smile.

"You like this girl," she said after several moments of studying it. I cocked my eyebrow at her.

"Uh, yeah? She's probably the closest thing I have to a best friend at this school," I said.

"No, no, no, I mean romantically," she said. That earned a laugh from me.

"I think you need to set the psychology book down for a bit, Jazz."

"I'm serious, Will."

"And so am I. Not everything is a headcase for you to crack. I like her as a friend, nothing more," I said.

"Then why did you put more detail into this drawing than the others?" she asked.

"Cause I have an eye for detail? Not that hard to figure out," I replied before sliding the journal back to myself and resuming the drawing.

"You should talk to her about your feelings, don't let it sit there and fester," Jazz said. I glanced up at her.

"You didn't hear a word I just said, didn't you."

"Burying your feelings isn't healthy, Will. The sooner you get them out into the open, the better you'll feel," she said.

"I'm starting to understand why Danny finds you annoying," I said.

"He said what?" she asked, her eyebrows coming down in an angry fashion.

"Oh, THAT got your attention?"

"That little…after everything I put up with for him, I'M annoying?" she muttered before storming off, presumably to find Danny and give him a piece of her mind. I just shook my head and went back to drawing.

"Christ on a crutch, this family sometimes."

The funny thing about Jazz is that sometimes, despite how annoying she can be with her theories and superiority complex, she gets you to thinking. As I blew the last of the shavings off of the picture and sat back to look at the finished product, I found myself wondering. Did I have feelings for Valerie beyond that of friendship?

Sure she was beautiful. Being a teenage male with a pulse, I would have had to have been blind to have missed that. But there were other aspects about her that I liked besides just looks. She was smart and she had a no nonsense, determined kind of personality. If there was something out there she wanted, sooner or later, by one means or another, it was only a matter of time before Valerie Gray got it.

On top of that, she was absolutely lethal. She possessed a ninth degree black belt, and she was a top notch marksman when it came to ghost hunting. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that she could turn just about anyone in school into a pretzel without breaking a sweat. In my eyes, that made her hot. But romance? I wasn't sure if that was as far as I was willing to go with it just yet.

"Mmm, needs a blaster," I muttered to myself as I looked over my drawing and concluded that what the Valerie in the picture needed was an ectoblaster to seem complete.

* * *

As the old saying goes, Karma is a bitch. Turns out, so is Star when something goes so horribly wrong that it threatens her ability to be on the cheerleading squad. Tucker's little business venture, while a great idea on paper, went sideways when his mom turned the flower in the sacks into cookies for a bake sale. I don't know how many cookies she churned out, but it was enough to use up like a hundred pounds of flower, because every, single, sack was used.

Star didn't find this amusing in the slightest. In fact, she ranted and raved at me for an hour on the subject. Never mind that she was the one who handed the sack off to Tucker in the first place, somehow it was my fault. The fact that I was eating a cookie in front of her while she was yelling probably didn't help matters.

"Are you taking this seriously?" she screeched as I bit into a rather large chocolate chip and savored the taste with a smile.

"Nope." Her eyes went wide and filled with fire.

"This could cost me my spot on the cheer squad!"

"Well, maybe you should have thought of that before handing off the project for someone else to do," I said. Star huffed and stomped her foot before storming off. I watched her go for about half a second before heading off as well. I'd seen her and others in her group go and find the jocks of the school before sending them after their targets like they were attack dogs. Right now, she was probably going to find a football player and have them turn me into the ball for the next game. As much as I enjoyed annoying her, I wasn't stupid enough to stay in one place for very long.

Instead I headed to Valerie's place. I hadn't seen her all day, and I figured there was a fifty fifty shot she was either there or at work. Knocking on the door, I was greeted by a Valerie that looked like she had gone three rounds in a cage match. She was bruised and battered, but still on her feet and able to move under her own power.

"What happened to you?" I asked as I slipped into the apartment.

"You will not believe the day I had," she said as she plopped down on the couch.

"If the Nasty Ned shift is treating you this bad, you should probably get a different job," I said, stuffing my hands in my pockets.

"No, no. I got dragged into some ghost dimension with the ghost kid by that hunter guy you saw when we first met," she said. I blinked and looked at her like I was an owl.

"I'm sorry, come again?"

"Yeah. I managed to get out with the ghost kid's help. We have a truce of sorts, for now," she said. I blinked again, not quite sure I was believing what I was hearing.

"You mean that guy?" I asked, throwing open her bedroom door and pointing toward the wanted poster on the wall, "the one you've been gunning for this whole time. You and him worked something out?"

"Like I said, you wouldn't believe the kind of day I had," she said. I let out a sigh and ran my hands over my face. Maybe this could be the start of getting them to work together. A cease fire between them was a start at least.

"Wait, did you say 'ghost dimension'?" I asked.

"Yeah. Some kind of spooky, creepy world the ghosts call home," she answered.

"You've been to the other side of the portal," I said in awe, mainly to myself. The portal in the basement at Fenton Works was something in and of itself. While I would like to say that it was usually kept shut, the reality of the matter was that Uncle Jack liked to go ghost fishing a lot of the time, so it was usually a guess at any given time as to whether or not it was actually closed.

"Portal? What Portal?" she asked. I frowned at her.

"You mean, you don't know?" I asked.

"Know what?"

"There's a ghost portal in my aunt and uncle's basement. How did you not know that?" I asked.

"Probably because you didn't tell me until just now. What the hell, Will? Don't you think I should know something like that?" she asked.

"I thought you already knew that," I answered defensively.

"Evidently not! Anything else you're not telling me? Are they hiding the ghost boy under their roof as well?" she demanded. Oh, if only she knew…

"I doubt that. They tend to go with the whole 'rip 'em apart molecule by molecule' route," I answered waving my arms slightly as I impersonated my Uncle.

"Will, that portal is a danger to everyone, including your family," she said.

"You think I don't know that? There's a reason I sleep with a blaster under my pillow," I shot back.

"So why haven't you shut it off yet?" I actually laughed at that.

"Gee, why didn't I think of that? Oh yeah, cause they just turn it back on. If the problem was a simple as throwing a switch, this would have been taken care of months ago," I said.

"We could try sabotaging it," she suggested.

"And risk blowing an entire block sky high? I thought we were the good guys," I replied.

"The police..."

"And tell them what? 'Hey, there's a secret portal in my basement, I swear, please shut it down'? Best case, we get laughed out of the station, worst case, we get padded cells with straight jackets."

"Well then what do you suggest we do, huh? I don't see you coming up with any ideas!" she snapped.

"There's only one thing we can do at this point, Val; we hold the line and send back anything that comes through," I said, picking up and holding one of her blaster pistols to make a point. Valerie looked like she had just watched me grow a second head.

"You and me, just like that?" she asked.

"We know where the epicenter of the ghosts is. If we can't do an outright shut down, the next best thing is containment," I reasoned.

"You and me, against an entire world of ghosts and other sorts of nasty things?" she asked. I twirled the blaster and offered it to her grip first.

"Thought you liked a challenge, Ms. Gray," I said with a smirk. After several moments of silence, she let out a sigh, stood up, and took the weapon being offered to her.

"You have got to be the craziest guy I have ever met," she said. My smirk only widened.

"I'm starting to take that as a complement," I replied.

**And cut. That's all for this chapter. We're finally starting to move into the meat and bones of the story, so expect the action and more interesting parts to pick up from here. Remember to read, review, or drop a PM. Let me know what you guys liked or didn't like about this chapter, and I'll see you all next time. **


End file.
